Two months of ongoing Belarusian protests demanding Lukashenka to step down continue with no sign of abating. For 8th Sunday in a row, as many as 100,000 people thronged the center of Minsk – police deployed water cannons and arrested some...
Meeting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka on 14 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that in the next year Belarus and Russia would hold joint exercises or similar events almost monthly. Belarusian special operations forces on 21 September joined the...
For almost 50 days Belarusians continue daily protests against the illegitimacy of the 6th presidential term of Lukashenka, including weekly Saturday’s Women Marches and massive Sunday rallies. This week, Belarusians flooded the streets after a “secret” inauguration ceremony on September 23,...
For over 40 days, starting from August 9th, Belarusians continue daily peaceful protests. The most massive rallies on Sundays continue to gather hundreds of thousands of people in Minsk, despite the increasing brutality by the police. Lukashenka keeps pushing...
On 10 September, Belarusian police detained Dzmitry Siomchanka, leader of the ‘presidential pool’ at the state TV Channel ONT, after he expressed his opposition to President Alexander Lukashenka’s policies. The detention is the most recent illustration of how fragile...
There should be no illusions about Western support for Belarusian democracy. At least until the victory of the latter. Almost everything that EU governments do today is either symbolic gestures or the realization of their national interests in the...
For a whole month, starting from August 9th, Belarusians continue daily protests demanding new presidential elections. The traditional Sunday’s rallies gather hundreds of thousands of people in Minsk and thousands in regions. Last Sunday, on September 6th, for the first time,...
Peaceful protests in Minsk – Belarus Photo Digest
The Belarusian berry industry – Belarus photo digest
Lukashenka’s Chinese options
On 26 October, prominent Chinese government expert on post-Soviet states Wang Xiaoquan warned that an escalation of Western sanctions against Belarus could disrupt China-EU transit routes. Paradoxically, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka needs to improve relations with the EU in...
Videos of protests in Belarus – live updates
Belarus now witnesses the largest protests since the 1990s following rigged presidential elections. Hundreds of thousands of people in different parts of the country have been coming out to protest for many days, calling for the release of political...
Opinion: No illusions about Western support for democracy in Belarus
There should be no illusions about Western support for Belarusian democracy. At least until the victory of the latter. Almost everything that EU governments do today is either symbolic gestures or the realization of their national interests in the...
Lukashenka’s Chinese options
On 26 October, prominent Chinese government expert on post-Soviet states Wang Xiaoquan warned that an escalation of Western sanctions against Belarus could disrupt China-EU transit routes. Paradoxically, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka needs to improve relations with the EU in...
Why the West fails to make a difference in Belarus
Over two months have passed since the beginning of the largest peaceful protests in Belarusian history. The protesters show little willingness to give up and the authorities continue to rely on violence and intimidation, despite calls from the West...
Transit wars weaken both Belarus and the Baltics
For more than a month, Alexander Lukashenka has been threatening to stop exporting Belarusian goods via Baltic states’ ports, and to halt their transit via the Baltics and Poland. Alongside other measures taken by him, such as in the...
Belarus reluctantly reverses its security policies
Meeting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka on 14 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that in the next year Belarus and Russia would hold joint exercises or similar events almost monthly. Belarusian special operations forces on 21 September joined the...
Lukashenka runs to Putin amid protests
On 22 August while meeting military personnel in Hrodna Province, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced that his opponents had — with the aim of bringing about a “colour revolution”— been attempting to divert his attention from the domestic situation by...
The best ever opportunity for Putin to intervene in Belarus?
On 18 August, president Alyaksandr Lukashenka convened his National Security Council with a focus on “external intervention” in the current protests in Belarus. He cited military threats on the “Western borders”, although a couple of weeks ago he had...
Belarusian state apparatus – strong from the outside, hollow from the inside
On 10 September, Belarusian police detained Dzmitry Siomchanka, leader of the ‘presidential pool’ at the state TV Channel ONT, after he expressed his opposition to President Alexander Lukashenka’s policies. The detention is the most recent illustration of how fragile...
Catholic Church as next target for Belarus’ undermining of civic solidarity
On 31 August, Belarusian border security officers denied a Belarusian citizen, Archbishop Tadeush Kandrusievich, the head of the Catholic Church, return into the country. Amid displays of solidarity among various civil society leaders in Belarus, the authorities continue to...
The movement of ‘dreamers’ against the ‘one-size-fits-all’ propaganda
Belarus, from its capital and regional centres to its towns and villages, has now been engulfed in anti-government protests for 15 consecutive days. The peaceful March for a New Belarus on 23 August led to Lukashenka parading with a...
